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"Next to music there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili."

- Bandleader and trumpeter Harry James (1916-1983)

A lot can be said for chili. Among its virtues: it's economical, nutritious, sustaining, easy to cook - and pretty tough to screw up.

Ingredients are simple and accessible, quantities are, by and large, flexible, and it is a remarkably versatile and forgiving dish that freezes incredibly well. Indeed, there are those, Jeannine Scott among them, who think its taste is improved in the freezing. "It gives it more body," she said.

And Scott knows from chili: she sells five different kinds at her bright and inviting little eatery in Montreal called Soupe Café, and wholesales it to other places around town.

"We sell tons and tons of chili - particularly to students," said the Winnipeg native, a nutritionist by training who worked at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital and in weight-loss counselling before opening her cafe in 2005.

"In the six years that I have owned my cafe, I have noticed that chili is getting more and more popular. And why not? It's basically a meal in a bowl ... a hearty meal. Unlike soup, where you generally eat it as a starter or in addition to a salad or sandwich, chili ... can be the entire meal. It is high in protein, high in fibre, and low in fat. It's cheap, filling, and it's great comfort food."

And you don't need much else: a dollop of sour cream atop the chili bowl, perhaps, or a sprinkling of grated cheddar, some chopped green onion or chives, a cornbread-cheddar cheese muffin spiked with jalapeno pepper like the kind sold at Soupe Cafe - and you're done. Of course, chili is also nice ladled over rice or pasta, baked potato or sweet potato.

Winter's cold and damp makes this the busy season for chili at Soupe Cafe, where cook Alison Baker made 140 litres of the stuff last week.

Most traditional chili, Scott explained, is a mix of tomatoes, beans, onions, chili peppers, garlic, whatever protein you choose to add - or not - and spices.

Her mesquite chicken chili, bright with kidney beans, corn kernels and cubes of sauteed chicken breast, has a smoky flavour; a beef chili includes a mix of spices and chili pepper - that's the one she took when she was invited to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday with friends. The Tex Mex chipotle beef chili, which features vegetables, is flavoured with chipotle pepper.

The vegetarian tofu chili is the bestseller of the five.

"Even people who are not vegetarians love it," she said. "We buy the tofu in bricks and hand crumble it."

A spicy mixed bean vegetarian chili, which features jalapeno pepper, is the spiciest.

Like the 30 different kinds of soup, the chili at the cafe is made from scratch: although many chili recipes call for broth, Scott prefers a thicker chili, with no broth added. And she likes to leave the chili to simmer for an hour or so on the stove to marry and deepen the flavours.

The cooking at Soupe Cafe is done on an ordinary stove, the kind you'd find in many residential kitchens - but the quantities in which Baker works are hardly residential: think 100-ounce cans of tomatoes and pots with capacities of 12 litres and more: there's one that holds 75 litres. These days, Scott is responsible more for recipe development, adding to her repertoire of chilies and soups, than cooking, although she jumps in when she's needed, and for business development.

There are five soups on offer each day at the restaurant, ladled hot from serve-yourself containers, as well as at least one type of chili and, in winter, sometimes two - and a range of both are available for takeout in one-litre containers in a glass-fronted refrigerator and a freezer at the front.

It was while she was working as a weight-loss counsellor that Scott learned that people often know what they should be eating, she said. If they don't, it's because they don't - or won't - make the time to prepare healthful foods. "Convenience plays a big role," she said.

She was already cooking - "I have always had a passion for cooking," said Scott, a self-taught cook who reads food magazines for pleasure: Fine Cooking and Light & Tasty are favourites - and delivering food to clients when she decided she wanted to open a restaurant.

"I wanted a place that was convenient, a place where people could come get healthy food," she said.

She said she tries to base her recipes on the Canada Food Guide: opting for little added salt in recipes, for instance, and using olive oil or canola oil for their healthful properties.

The chilies and soups are cooked the day before they are sold: "They need to set overnight," Scott said.

To her, they are best reheated on the stove - not microwaved - in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. And frozen soup or chili is best defrosted overnight in the refrigerator - although in a pinch it can be started frozen, carefully, over low heat with a bit of water in the pot.

This recipe is from Jeannine Scott, owner of Soupe Café, a bright and welcoming place on Montreal's Notre Dame St. W. that features chili prominently on its menu.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons dried oregano

Pinch salt

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 green bell peppers, diced

2 jalapeno peppers, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 4-ounce cans green chili peppers, drained

2 28-ounce (796 mL) cans crushed tomatoes

2 28-ounce (796 mL) cans diced tomatoes

2 to 4 tablespoons chili powder, or to taste

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 14-ounce (398 mL) can kidney beans, drained

1 14-ounce (398 mL) can garbonzo beans, drained

1 14-ounce (398 mL) can black beans, drained

2 cups frozen corn kernels

Over medium heat, heat olive oil in a large pot. Stir in the onion and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in celery, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic and green chili peppers. When vegetables are heated through, reduce heat to low and cover pot. Simmer 5 minutes. Mix the diced and crushed tomatoes into the pot. season with chili powder and pepper and stir in the beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves, stir in corn and cook 5 more minutes.

Easy Weeknight Chili

Serves 4

This chili, from The American Heart Association's Healthy Family Meals: 150 Recipes Everyone Will Love (2011, $28.95), uses extra-lean ground beef and doesn’t require the cooking that many chili recipes do: tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene, which gives them their deep red colour. Studies have shown that lycopene in cooked tomato products such as tomato sauce or paste may be more readily absorbed by the body than lycopene in raw tomatoes.

In a large pot, cook the beef, bell pepper, onion and garlic over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, or until the beef is browned, stirring occasionally to turn and break up the beef. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt. Then stir in the beans, tomatoes with liquid and broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, or until bell pepper is tender. Gradually add the cornmeal to the chili, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Serve sprinkled with the coriander.

For extra crunch, add chopped celery or carrots when adding the bell pepper.

Chili Blanco with Chicken

Serves 6 to 8

This chili, from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook, by Steve Petusevsky and members of the Whole Foods Market Team (Clarkson Potter, 2002), packs the punch of a classic chili — but without the usual red colour. Instead, white beans absorb the flavour of the jalapenos, oregano, chipotle chili and coriander. Omit the beer and replace it with stock, if you prefer. This recipe also works with diced firm-fleshed fish such as cod, halibut, salmon or tuna — or such seafood as shrimp, scallops or chopped clams. Use a combination of any or all. Marinate and saute the ingredients, just like the chicken, then remove from pan and add during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Marinate diced chicken in the olive oil, with the cumin, oregano, chili powder, minced jalapeno and garlic for a few minutes. Heat a large pot over medium heat, and add the chicken. Saute for 2 minutes, until the chicken turns opaque. Add additional olive oil, and saute the onion, celery, leek, green pepper, cumin, oregano and chilies. Saute for 2 minutes, until well-combined. Add the beer, if using, the stock, and beans. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. Add the coriander, lime and salt. Serve, with a dollop of plain yogourt or sour cream and diced avocado, if desired.

Photographs by: Vincenzo D'Alto, The Gazette

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I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.